ACT No. IV of 2004 AN ACT to amend the Attorney General and Counsel for the Republic (Constitution of Office) Ordinance, Cap. 90. (constitutionofoffice)

I assent.

E DWARD F ENECH A DAMI

(L.S.)

President

25th May, 2004

ACT No. IV of 2004

AN ACT to amend the Attorney General and Counsel for the Republic

(Constitution of Office) Ordinance, Cap. 90.

BE IT ENACTED by the President, by and with the advice and

consent of the House of Representatives, in this present Parliament

assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows> -

(1) The short title of this Act is the Attorney General and

Counsel for the Republic (Constitution of Office) (Amendment) Act,

2004. (2) This Act shall be read and construed as one with the

Attorney General and Counsel for the Republic (Constitution of

Office) Ordinance, hereinafter referred to as “the principal law” and

shall come into force on such date as the Minister responsible for

Justice may by notice in the Gazette establish, and different dates

may be established for different premises and purposes thereof.

For the long title to the principle law there shall be

substituted the following>

“To provide for the Office of Attorney General”.

In article 1 of the principal law for the words “Attorney

General and Counsel for the Republic (Constitution of Office)

Ordinance” there shall be substituted the words “Attorney General

Ordinance”.

For article 2 of the principal law there shall be substituted Substitution

Article 2

the following>

of the principal

law.

2. (1) The Attorney General shall be the chief

legal advisor to the Government and shall have the judicial

representation of the Government in judicial acts and

actions where the law does not provide that such

representation shall vest in some other person or authority.

(2) The Attorney General shall be the Chief

Prosecuting Officer in Malta having such powers in

connection with Criminal proceedings and as may from

time to time be by law provided. In the exercise of his

powers to institute, undertake or discontinue criminal

proceedings the Attorney General is to exercise such

powers in his individual judgement.

(3) Where under any law the Attorney General

is to act or exercise any power in his individual judgment

he shall not be subject to the direction or control of any

other person or authority.

(4) The Officers of the Attorney General when

acting under the direction of the Attorney General in

anything in which the Attorney General is to act in his

own individual judgment, shall have the same protection

at law as if the action done or omitted to be done were an

act done or omitted to be done by the Attorney General.”.

Article 3 of the principal law shall be amended as follows> Amendment of

article 3

of the principal

(a) in sub-article (1) thereof for the words “ “Deputy

law.

Attorney General” and other officers to be styled respectively>

“Assistants to the Attorney General”, “Senior Counsel for the

Republic” and “Counsel for the Republic” ”, there shall be

substituted the words “Deputy Attorney General and other

Officers of the Attorney General”< and

(b) in sub-article (2) thereof for the words “the Deputy

Attorney General, the Assistants to the Attorney General, the

Senior Counsel for the Republic and the Counsel for the

Republic” there shall be substituted the words “the Deputy

Attorney General and the other Officers of the Attorney

General”, and

(c) immediately after sub-article (2) thereof there shall

be added the following sub-articles>

“(3) The Office of the Attorney General is hereby

designated as a Government Agency and the provisions of

subarticles (5) to (9) of this article shall apply to the said

agency.

(4) The Attorney General may also act through such

contractors as he may from time to time appoint”>

Provided that such contractors shall at all times act in

accordance with such instructions as may be given to them

by the Attorney General.

(5) (a) The Office of the Attorney General shall

as a government agency be headed by the Attorney General

and shall be the medium through which the Attorney

General carries out his functions according to law.

(b) The said agency shall be a body corporate

having a distinct legal personality and shall be capable of

entering into contracts, of employing personnel, of

acquiring, holding and disposing of any kind of property

for the purposes of its operations and of suing and of being

sued.

(c) The legal and judicial representation of the

Office of the Attorney General shall lie in the Attorney

General.

(d) The said agency shall enter into an agency

performance agreement with the Government whereby the

funding of the agency as well as the tasks to be addressed

and achieved by it are determined>

Provided that the Minister responsible for the agency

shall, subject to the provisions of any law to the contrary,

be entitled to give directions in writing to the agency and

the agency and its head shall be bound to observe such

directives>

Provided further that the provisions of the above

proviso shall not apply where the Attorney General is in

accordance with the Constitution or any other law to act in

accordance with his own individual judgement, in which

case the agency is to act according to the sole directions of

the Attorney General.

(6) The Attorney General and the employees of the

said agency shall abide by any Code of Ethics applicable

to public officers and shall, subject to any law to the

contrary, have the same obligations thereunder>

Provided that the Attorney General shall with the

concurrence of the Minister responsible for the agency

draw up service values and Codes of Ethics in respect of

the agency to supplement any public service Code of

Ethics.

(7) (a) The Attorney General shall keep proper

books of account in such manner as the Minister

responsible for finance may from time to time direct. Such

accounts shall be audited by an auditor appointed for the

purpose by the Attorney General with the concurrence of

the Minister responsible for finance and shall moreover

be subject to audit by the Auditor General.

(b) The financial year of the Office of the

Attorney General shall commence on the 1st January and

shall end on the 31st December>

Provided that the first financial year shall commence

upon the coming into force of this subarticle and shall end

on the 31st December of the following year.

(c) The Attorney General shall not later than

six weeks after the end of each financial year present to

the Minister responsible for the Agency the audited

accounts together with a report on the workings of the

agency, which report shall state the manner in which the

agency has operated to fulfil its functions and its plans for

the future.

(d) The accounts and report mentioned in

paragraph (c) shall be laid on the Table of the House by

the Minister not later than six weeks after its receipt, or

where the House is during the period not in session not

later than the second week after the House resumes its

sittings.

(8) (a) The Prime Minister may by direction detail

a public officer for duty with the said agency for such term

and under such conditions as may be established in relation

to the officer so detailed.

(b) The Prime Minister may at any time revoke

any such direction.

(c) Where any officer is detailed for duty with

the agency such officer shall, during the time in which such

direction is in force, be under the administrative direction

and control of the Attorney General, but shall otherwise

remain, and retain all rights and duties as, a public officer,

and for the purposes of any law relating to government

service pensions, service with the agency shall be deemed

to be service with the Government>

Provided that no account shall be taken in assessing

the pensionable emoluments of such officer for the

purposes of any law relating to government service

pensions of any allowances, bonuses or gratuities paid to

such officer by the agency in excess to what he is entitled

to as a public officer>

Provided further that during the time in respect of

which such officer is so detailed to perform duties with

the agency, the terms and conditions of his service shall

not be less favourable than those which are attached to his

appointment under the Government during the period

aforesaid. Such terms and conditions shall not be deemed

to be less favourable merely because they are not in all

respects identical with or superior to those enjoyed by the

officer concerned at the date of such direction, if such terms

and conditions, taken as a whole, in the opinion of the Prime

Minister offer substantially equivalent or greater benefits.

(9) Any public officer serving in the Office of the

Attorney General on the date of the coming into force of

this Act shall from such date be deemed to have been

detailed by direction of the Prime Minister for duty with

the Office of the Attorney General as a government agency

under the provisions of subarticle (8) of this article, and

thereupon the provisions of the same subarticle shall apply

to such officer who shall continue to be detailed for duty

as aforesaid until such time as the Prime Minister may

revoke such direction as provided in paragraph (b) of

subarticle (8) of this article>

Provided that where the Prime Minister revokes any

direction as aforesaid the officer in whose respect the

direction is revoked shall retain such grade in the public

service which he held immediately before being detailed

for duty with the Office of the Attorney General as a

government agency by virtue of this article or shall occupy

such other higher grade which he would have occupied

had he not been detailed as aforesaid.”.

In article 4 of the principal law for the words from “The Amendment of

article 4

Attorney General” to the words “and Counsel for the Republic” there of the principal

shall be substituted the words “The Attorney General and the Deputy law.

Attorney General and other Officers of the Attorney General”.

The Commissioner for Oaths Ordinance, Cap. 79, shall be Consequential

amendments

amended as follows>

of Cap. 79.

(a)

subarticle (1A) of article 3 thereof shall be deleted<

(b) for article 6 thereof there shall be substituted the

following>

6. (1) The Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney

General and such of the other Officers of the Attorney

General as the said Attorney General may from time to

time designate by notice in the Gazette, as well as the

magistrates, shall ex-officio be Commissioners for Oaths.

(2) The designation referred to in subarticle (1)

may be made by reference to a person or persons or by

designation of the office or rank held.”.

The Attorney General (Constitution of Office) Repeal of the

Attorney General

(Amendment) Act, 2002 is hereby repealed.

(Constitution of

Office)

Amendment Act,

2002. Act X of 2002.

Passed by the House of Representatives at Sitting No. 130 of 17th May, 2004.

A NTON T ABONE

R ICHARD J. C AUCHI

Clerk to the House of Representatives